A soldier returns home to find his family at war with itself
When Russell Bates gets his father’s message that the family ranch is in trouble, he does not hesitate to ask his commander for leave. When his request is denied, the cavalryman takes matters into his own hands and goes AWOL during a patrol. There is nothing more important to Russell than his father, but he does not arrive in time to save him. Old man Bates is dead, and his ranch is ready to perish along with him.
 
The foreman has been lynched, the cowhands are in revolt, and Russell’s sisters have ceded control of the ranch to the sinister Vincent Battles. With the help of Trinity, an honest drifter whom Russell met on the road, the Bates family must fight to keep hold of their land. But when Russell’s oldest brother returns from Texas, their civil war threatens to spread from the ranch to the family itself.